Biography

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Senator Douglas V. Mastriano, PhD

(Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired)

Sen. Mastriano is an honorably retired Colonel – Photo is not DOD endorsement.

Doug Mastriano is a combat veteran and the son of a career US Navy man.  He is an Eagle Scout and worked as a paperboy, janitor, security guard, short-order cook, pizza delivery person and dishwasher.  Doug was commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1986 and served on the Iron Curtain with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in West Germany. While serving along the East German and Czechoslovakian borders, he witnessed the end of the Cold War and thereafter deployed to Iraq for Operation Desert Storm (1991) to liberate Kuwait. His regiment led the attack against Saddam’s elite Republican Guard forces. Doug went on to serve in Washington, DC, the 3rd Infantry Division and US Army Europe.  After 9/11, Mastriano was the lead planner for the operation to invade Iraq via Turkey.  He served four years with NATO and deployed three times to Afghanistan.  Mastriano was the director of NATO’s Joint Intelligence Center in Afghanistan, leading 80 people from 18 nations.  On his own initiative, Doug led seven relief operations to help Afghan orphans.  He completed his career as a Professor of the U.S. Army War College (PAWC), Carlisle, PA, and taught Strategic Studies at the Master Degree level to the next generation of senior leaders.

Mastriano is a Doctor of History (PhD) and has four master’s degrees: Strategy, Strategic Intelligence, Military Operations, and Airpower.  He led the search to locate where America’s greatest WW I hero, Alvin York, received the Medal of Honor and led the construction of a three mile trail, with two monuments and nine markers in the Argonne Forest of France.  He published 30 articles on strategy and historic topics and authored the book Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne which received four awards. His new book, Thunder in the Argonne is the first to tell the complete story of America’s largest battle, the 1918 Meuse-Argonne Campaign.  Doug’s next book, Pershing’s Lieutenants, was just released and is an edited work that focuses on the leadership style of American officers in the First World War.

Mastriano has appeared on Tucker Carlson, C-Span, numerous national radio programs (John Batchelor Show, Eric Metaxas Show) and on Fox Business with Stuart Varney.  He retired from the U.S. Army in November 2017 after 30 years of active duty as a Colonel.  In 2018, he was a candidate for Pennsylvania’s 13th U.S. Congressional District, where he overwhelmingly won Franklin and Fulton Counties and placed 3rd (of 8 candidates) in Adams and Cumberland Counties. 

Doug is married to Rebecca (Stewart), whose ancestors settled this region of Pennsylvania in 1732.  Rebecca was a chaplain with Marketplace Ministries at Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe. Their son Josiah is a graduate of Liberty University, and an Eagle Scout, Canadian Chief Scout and recipient of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards.

Mastriano is an active member of his church and resides near Caledonia State Park, Pennsylvania. 

Mastriano was elected to serve as the Senator for Pennsylvania’s 33rd District in May 2019, which includes all of Adams County, most of Franklin County and parts of Cumberland and York Counties.   Mastriano has thirty years of experience building teams to get the job done.  He has dedicated his life to freedom, defending our families and serving the people of this great land. 

Academic Background

Bachelor of Arts, History

Masters Strategic Intelligence

Masters Airpower Theory

Masters Military Operational Art and Science

Masters Strategic Studies

Ph.D. (Doctor of History)

Key Military Assignments

1986 – Commissioned as an officer in the United States Army

2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2ACR) on the Iron Curtain

2ACR for Operations Desert Shield/Storm in Iraq

Assignments in Washington, DC

229th Military Intelligence Battalion

3rd Infantry Division (Rock of the Marne)

US Army Europe

NATO (Deployments to Afghanistan 2006, 2007, 2008)

U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Professor Army War College (PAWC), Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Retired as Colonel in the United States Army

Published Books:

Pershing’s Lieutenants, (London, UK, Osprey; 2020).  Coeditor with David Zabecki 

Douglas Mastriano, Thunder in the Argonne: A New History of America’s Greatest Battle, (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2018). 

Douglas Mastriano, Alvin York, (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2014).

Published Security Studies:

            Project 1721: a Strategic Assessment of the Emerging Russian Approach, (Carlisle, PA, US Army War College; 2017). 

            Project 1704: Russian Landpower, (Carlisle, PA, US Army War College; 2015). 

Academic Awards:

William E. Colby Award

Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award

US Army War College Madigan Award

Carder Family Book Prize

            Army War College Foundation Writing Award

Colby Circle Member.  Inducted into the elite “Colby Circle” in 2015.  Other writers associated with the Colby Circle include: H.R. McMaster, Tom Clancy, W.E.B. Griffin, James Webb, and Mark Bowden. This group of writers is recognized for their contributions “to public understanding of military and political affairs.”

Academic Promotions and Designations: 

            Army War College Professor (Functional Area 47)

            Associate Professor

            Tenured Military Faculty

            Professor Army War College (PAWC)

            Army Historian (5X designation)

 

 

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